rv/21 Gonzaga (8-3, 0-0) vs. Pepperdine (7-4, 0-0)
Game 13 | Dec. 21 | 6 p.m. PT | McCarthey Athletic Center | Spokane, Wash.

SERIES: Gonzaga leads, 49-31
LAST MEETING: 2015 WCC Tournament - Gonzaga won 79-61 in Las Vegas, Nev.
TELEVISION: ESPN2 (Greg Heister, Sean Farnham)
RADIO: 1510 KGA/Sirius XM/TuneIn App (Tom Hudson, Matt Santangelo)
LIVE VIDEO: WatchESPN.com | LIVE STATS: | NOTES: Gonzaga - Pepperdine

STORYLINES
- The WCC opens league play ahead of the holidays for the first time and GU is at home for five of next seven games.
- Gonzaga has won 29 straight games against Pepperdine -- last overall loss in 2002, 88-79 at PEPP -- and 16 in a row over the Waves in Spokane -- last loss, 65-64 in 1998 in Martin Centre.
- Gonzaga was without center Przemek Karnowski (back) for the sixth straight game against Tennessee.
The Washington State game was Karnowski's first-career game missed due to injury. Gonzaga is 4-2 without him.
- In Karnowski's absence, Wiltjer and Sabonis have logged 36.2 and 32.0 minutes per game, seven and nine more each per game.
- Gonzaga improved to 9-4 all-time in the Washington Federal Battle in Seattle after 86-79 win over Tennessee -- in front of a Battle in Seattle record crowd of 16,770.
- HBO has begun filming a special on Gonzaga Basketball chronicling the season. More info to come in the near future from HBO and IMG.

ABOUT GONZAGA
- Gonzaga has had a higher field goal percentage than 10 of 11 opponents and only been outrebounded one time in those 11 games.
- The UCLA loss marked the first time Gonzaga has lost two games at home in the same season since 2010-11.
- Domantas Sabonis is averaging a double-double at 17.3 points and 10.8 rebounds/game while shooting .658 from the floor.
- Sabonis posted his fifth double-double overall and second straight with 36 points and 16 rebounds against Tennessee. He's missed a double-double by either one point or one rebound three other times this season.
- Kyle Wiltjer leads the team in scoring at 20.6 points per game, and has had 20-plus six times this season and double figures in all 11.
- Wiljer and Sabonis have combined total three 20-point halves. Wiltjer has two (WSU, UA) and Sabonis has one (UT).
- Head coach Mark Few is the winningest active coach in NCAA Division I by percentage at .808 (446-106).
- Gonzaga was picked to win the WCC regular season title by the league's coaches receiving all nine possible first-place votes.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE
- Head coach Marty Wilson is in his fifth season in Malibu with a 62-71 record and has the Waves on a current five-game winning streak.
- Pepperdine has one of the most versatile players in the WCC in Stacy Davis who averages 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game and has a team-high 16 three-pointers. He's also has had three straight double-doubles entering the Gonzaga game.
- Lamond Murray Jr. has had a breakout season averaging 14.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
- Jett Raines (9.7 ppg) is coming off of a season-high 21 against Louisiana.

WASHINGTON FEDERAL BATTLE IN SEATTLE
Gonzaga is coming off its fifth consecutive Washington Federal Battle in Seattle victory after defeating Tennessee 86-79 on Saturday at KeyArena. Domantas Sabonis had 36 points and 16 rebounds, Kyle Wiltjer added 24 points and Eric McClellan had 13 to help Gonzaga hold off a furious Tennessee rally in the second half. A Battle in Seattle record 16,770 fans were in attendance, breaking the previous mark of 16,763 when GU took on Connecticut in December 2008.

WEST COAST CONFERENCE NOTES
- Gonzaga has won 19 straight West Coast Conference openers, including a 16-0 record under Mark Few.
- GU has won 20 straight WCC home openers, including all 16 under Mark Few.
- GU has won 18 WCC regular-season titles and the last three in a row after winning a league record 11 straight from 2001-2011.

ZAGS PICKED TO WIN WCC
Gonzaga earned all nine possible first-place votes by the WCC coaches in the preseason poll, while three players were named Preseason All-WCC - Przemek Karnowski, Kyle Wiltjer, and Domantas Sabonis.

20 IN A HALF...THREE TIMES
Senior Kyle Wiltjer has had two of the hottest streaks of his high-scoring career at Gonzaga against Arizona and Washington State when scored 20 points in the first half of both games. Most recently, Domantas Sabonis equaled the feat with a 20-point first half against Tennessee. He was 7-for-9 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

TWO-MAN WRECKING CREW
Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis combined for 51 points against Arizona on Dec. 5, which was the highest teammate total for GU since Wiltjer (45) and Gary Bell Jr. (12) combined for 57 at Pacific until the Zags took the court against Tennessee. Sabonis poured in a career-high 36 while Wiltjer added 24 to combine for 60 of GU's 86 points.

ALBERTS EARNS STARTING ROLE
Redshirt freshman guard Bryan Alberts earned a spot in the starting lineup in each of the last two games. In his first-career start, he responded with 14 points against Saint Martin's. Alberts played a game-high 34 mintues and made 5-of-7 overall from the field. Known in practice as one of the best three-point shooters on the team, he showed it against Saint Martin's going 4-of-5 from behind the arc. He is 11-for-20 (.550) from three this year, giving him the best percentage on team.

CUTTING BACK ON TURNOVERS
After averaging 15.0 turnovers per game in the first seven games of the season, Gonzaga has taken better care of the ball over the last four games. Against UCLA, Montana, Saint Martin's and Tennessee, the Zags averaged just 10.3 turnovers per game, including a pair of single-digit efforts with nine versus Saint Martin's and season-low six versus Tennessee.

FREE THROW IMPROVEMENT
After shooting 64 percent (59-92) from the free throw line in the first five games of the season, the Zags have made 75.0 percent (72-96) of their trips to the charity stripe in the last five games. GU was especially good from the line in a three-point win over Montana going 6-for-7 in the final 66 seconds and against Tennessee going 10-for-11 in the final 3:43.

DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Domantas Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer each had double-doubles vs. Saint Martin's on Dec. 14, marking the first time since Jan. 29, 2015, that a pair of Zag teammates had double-doubles in the same game. That night against Portland, Przemek Karnowski had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Sabonis had 13 points and 11 rebounds.